December 20, 2008

BRIGHTON, Mich. — Ticking someone off could get you a ticket in one Michigan city. The Brighton City Council on Thursday approved an ordinance allowing police in the Livingston County community to ticket and fine anyone who is annoying in public "by word of mouth, sign or motions."
The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus of Howell reports the measure is modeled on a similar ordinance in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.
A city attorney says there could be situations where the measure would violate freedom of speech, but that those cases will be reviewed by the city.
The ban takes effect Jan. 2.

December 17, 2008

According to a civil suit filed Monday, Skol arrived at the hospital at about 4 a.m. Her usual doctor was out of town, so Dr. Scott Pierce filled in. The lawsuit alleged that Pierce showed up at Rush four hours later, and when he did, he allegedly reprimanded Skol for not calling before coming in. The lawsuit claims he said there was not enough time to administer pain medication.

The suit also accuses Pierce of telling a nurse that Skol got the pain she deserved because she had not called ahead.

"Sometimes pain is the best teacher," he allegedly said.

Skol says the doctor gave her an excruciating vaginal exam in the middle of a contraction. Then, although she was not fully dilated, she claims Pierce instructed her to start pushing.

When Skol or the staff questioned his methods, Pierce told Skol, "Shut up, close your mouth, and push," according to the suit.

The peculiar fact about the current crisis is that even as big papers have become less profitable they’ve arguably become more popular. The blogosphere, much of which piggybacks on traditional journalism’s content, has magnified the reach of newspapers, and although papers now face far more scrutiny, this is a kind of backhanded compliment to their continued relevance. ...people don’t use the Times less than they did a decade ago. They use it more. The difference is that today they don’t have to pay for it. The real problem for newspapers, in other words, isn’t the Internet; it’s us. We want access to everything, we want it now, and we want it for free. That’s a consumer’s dream, but eventually it’s going to collide with reality: if newspapers’ profits vanish, so will their product.
Does that mean newspapers are doomed? Not necessarily. There are many possible futures one can imagine for them, from becoming foundation-run nonprofits to relying on reader donations to that old standby the deep-pocketed patron. It’s even possible that a few papers will be able to earn enough money online to make the traditional ad-supported strategy work. But it would not be shocking if, sometime soon, there were big American cities that had no local newspaper; more important, we’re almost sure to see a sharp decline in the volume and variety of content that newspapers collectively produce. For a while now, readers have had the best of both worlds: all the benefits of the old, high-profit regime—intensive reporting, experienced editors, and so on—and the low costs of the new one. But that situation can’t last. Soon enough, we’re going to start getting what we pay for, and we may find out just how little that is.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are slamming recent stories about their divorce settlement.
The joint statement – issued in London – came two days after Madonna's U.S. rep gave the Associated Press details of the supposed deal. Liz Rosenberg said that Madonna, 50, was set to hand over cash and property worth between $76 million and $92 million, calling it "one of the largest [divorce] payouts ever."
But now the couple calls that information "misleading and inaccurate."